Per Gareth Walker

Good opportunity for him. He was one of the best players in pre-season but he needs to get regular game time at a decent level to progress. The Under 19's has been pretty woeful in providing him much of a test defensively, and that's the aspect of his game that's always needed developing. If he can reach the right standard in terms of defence and fitness we'll have one hell of a talented ball playing forward on our hands.

Good move, gives hm the chance to play against grown men, where he won't be able to rely purely on size

Kibula will be on Sky tomorrow in the Dewsbury v Toronto game. Worth watching or recording, should be a better test for him.

Look forward to seeing how he goes. He looks a real talent and getting bashed about by blokes older then him and his size (we’ll close to maybe)will do him the power of good.

I remember on the way to the Grand Final having a conversation with my mate about the whole Lam being interim for a year situation and said then I would pretty much write the year off regards trophy chances and use it to look at which fringe players and youngsters are good enough to be considered by Edwards (or somebody else) in 2020. That means having a good look at the likes of Kibula, Wells, Byrne, Partington and even younger ones like Smith and Smithies. I’ve seen nothing in these first few weeks to suggest our trophy chances have improved any from what I thought they would be back in October so we’ve nothing to lose.

First thing we must do is avoid relegation. After that we can start to look at youngsters of there is no chance of silverware.

No chance we’ll come close to relegation and I think we’ll make the top five but I just don’t fancy us to win anything this year. We’ve had too much upheaval and we’ve clearly cut the playing budget and that has an effect.

Injuries will probably allow us to have a natural look at players anyway but I’d certainly be picking and choosing games to change things up on occasion and have a look at a couple.

Fingers crossed for Sammy. It is rare to see someone so blessed with natural talent and yet so worrying. This lad could play in the forwards or the backs but last time I saw him he was still carrying the puppy fat and lacking the controlled agression. I once suggested starting him on the wing rather than throwing him in in the middles.

There is a lot to lose, if as fans we are asked to accept that this season is a write off then the club must accept that this is a reciprocal arrangement when it comes to ticket sales.
Rugby League is part of the entertainment business, the performances so far this season have been poor with little indication that they are going to get better soon. If the situation is not adressed I could quite easily see gates falling by around 3 /4 k per home game which would be financially disastrous. This in turn would impact next seasons recruitment prospects for SE (or whoever ?)

Incidentally, I think Leeds are in a similar situation, the only difference being that they are now into year two of their team rebuilding program.

I can’t believe some people on here. There is absolutely nothing to suggest we’ll not be competitive when it comes to silverware this season. We haven’t hit anywhere near the levels we’re capable of and when we do we’ll destroy somebody. If we win tomorrow and get the 2 points reinstated on Tuesday we’ll be 5th in the league. Patience is not a common thing amongst our fans but a bit of perspective is needed.

The reason I was saying at that point in October that I felt this season may be a transitional write off and the reason I’ve not seen anything to change my mind was pretty much down to recruitment. We’ve lost two of the best five players in superleague last year (in my opinion) and not replaced them adequately. We didn’t replace Bateman at all because whichever way the club dress it up, Greenwood came in as a replacement for Joel Tomkins and not replacing Bateman has left us a back rower down. Also when Sam Tomkins made his decision known, it was as clear as day that Hardaker would be a different type of fullback and we needed to invest in a quality scrum half. We didn’t do that and instead scraped around and ended up beating Workington to a player. I said last week Sammut will give it a real go but it hardly gets the juices flowing and I just don’t see him being good enough when it really matters.

Lenagan has spoken of crowds being down so we’d have to cut our cloth but sadly that’s only going to drive more people away. I don’t expect the squad to write the year off but in my mind it’s a struggle to see a successful year and if that becomes clear as we go along then I do hope we try a few things and give plenty of youngsters a go to impress.

I’m as patient as they come but also realistic. As I’ve noted above I think we’ve left ourselves short recruitment wise and with the coaching situation, I feel we’re in a bit of limbo. We’ll win enough games to make the play offs and we may have a good cup run but ultimately I can’t honestly see us winning a trophy. I wouldn’t be stunned if we did but it would take some effort shy of Wane, Bateman and Tomkins. I just think experimenting and giving the youth a chance helps bread a bit of patience and goodwill and that may be important.

My comment was a generalisation and directed at you NK. You tend to have a reasoned balanced view and I mostly agree with your points.
For a large part of the Roosters game we were very very good but still with room to improve significantly. That gives me enough optimism to think we’ll have a say in what happens when it matters most.
We need to find form and consistency in a new structure and when we do, we’ll be a force to reckon with. It’s still far too early to disregard Adrian Lam and in terms of the players who left, Bullock has been an ample replacement for Sutton. Hardaker is getting better every game and Greenwood has been superb.
Time will tell but I’m nowhere near ready to hit the panic button yet.

I just wanted to add clarity with it being me that said I see the season as a bit of a transitional write off. I agree with everything you say in regards not panicking and come Tuesday the table may look entirely different. Whatever happens this season I just hope we come out of it knowing a bit more about some of the youngsters. It might not be easy for a coach here for just one year to keep an eye on the future.

Absolutely right. We already know Partington is mature enough for regular 1st games and Byrne has already laid down a marker. Kibula has a big year ahead of him and big things are expected of him. His month a Deswbury is a step up and will give us a better idea of his current level. He’s a very big lad and very skilful but his fitness is my concern with him. I’m sure he’ll get a chance this year.
We have Manfredi and Burgess yet to come back and Sammut added a lot when he came on last week.
It may be a transition season but we shouldn’t write it off as being one in which we won’t compete.